The Aether
The Aether is an Aristocractic heaven-like realm rulled by a small elite of people. It is the homeworld of Buero and his family. The Aether realm is populated with angels. An aristocratic people with strong, central values of worship and purity. Authors note: If you wish to create a character and play a character from this realm, please contact me and talk to me about it -Jet Inhabitants The Aether realm is inhabited entirely by Angels, human-like creatures with wings on their back and high-magic capabilities. All Angels can use holy magic to some extent as it simply comes natural to them. (Like walking comes natural to humans) and all angels can fly (just like how flying comes natural to most birds) Some angels, usually those in the military also tend to expand their magical abilities to other non-holy element, such as fire, wind, earth or others. Usually they only learn one.There are of course exceptions of Angels that learn more than their natural holy magic and one element. Angels also do not have to eat food or drink water and are self-sustaining. They do however need to sleep. The amount of sleep needed depends on the amount of energy they have left, an angel can die easily from a lack of sleep since their bodies do not regenerate energy unless they are sleeping. Consuming food and drinking water does help them stay energized however, and lowers the amount of rest needed for them to stay healthy. Because of their need for sleep and the potential of death by lack of sleep, insomnia is to angels deadly, and drugs that can interfere with sleep in any way are strictly forbidden in The Aether. An example of this would be caffeine, while an angel is fully capable of consuming it, its addictive qualities and ability to artificially energize can kill. An angel without food, water and sleep would at max be able to survive 36 hours before fading away, but a well-fed angel can last as long as 48 hours. This also means that an Angels need for sleep is greater than that of a human, where a human usually need 6-10 hours of sleep every day, an angel will sleep for 14-16 hours to then stay awake for approximately 14-16 hours. This sleep cycle is in the Aether referred to as simply "A cycle". One cycle is thus 30 hours long, and is the base of their time measurements. Their species is also night-blind due to their world being light at all times, Angels through time have not developed the ability to see in the dark causing this night-blindness among their entire species. It is possible for an angel to be born with better vision in the dark, but that is to be taken as an abnormal and extremely rare trait. Magic Angel Magic draws upon the users own energy, the same energy that angels use to keep themselves awake and fed. This means that the use of this magic tires the user, and overuse can lead to being tired or simply fainting from exhaustion. Angels are naturally inclined to be able to tap into their energy and move it outside their own body, using it for attacking, defending or utility. This holy magic has properties similar to strong light, where if it is concentrated enough, it can grow heated and melt through things, or set flammable objects on fire. (Like sunlight passing through a magnifying glass.) However, strong angels are able to use this energy for something else, they are able to warp it into different types of energy simulating elements. An example would be hydromancy. While the use is able to manipulate and create water, water created through hydromancy does not have the exact same properties of real water. Drinking it is not healthy, it doesn't rehydrate properly, and therefore doesn't do everything water does, however it can emulate the functionality of water in certain cases, such as for washing clothes. However, since angels do not find it natural to manifest their energy as water magic or the likes of, their strongest magic will always be their innate 'holy magic', which emulates many of the properties light does. Geography The Aether is a relatively barren realm, it only exists mostly as a living place for Angels. Angels for this reason often travel to other worlds to gather what they need at home, and any creatures and buildings in the realm is from outside the realm. The realm itself can be described as "Cloudy and surreal". Outside the main city where all angels live, the world stretches seemingly infinitely, but is all just a barren and cloudy world. Surprisingly, despite the realms fluffy, soft looks. The clouds seem to give way to a solid layer below whenever anyone steps on it, or pressure in any other way is applied. Night and Day does not exist in this realm either, instead the whole realm appears to simply light up on its own with no light source in sight, this even applies to the inside of buildings. Seemingly the air itself is luminescent, therefore common Angels are not very used to the dark, and most common angels for this reason fear it. There is only darkness in the Aether where there is no air, which also links it to suffocation, making the fear for it even larger. The city itself in which angels live appears to be multiple settlements in the sky, these however are just spread out into sectors utilizing the seemingly limitless space that is in this realm. All of these settlements however are close together and easily accessible via both roads and flight and are all considered the same city. Each 'class' of people usually have their own sector to live in as an example aristocrats will never live with the general population of Commonfolk, however certain high-ranked officials from the military elite may be given housing within one of these elite sectors usually only for Aristocrats, and some Commonfolk and low-rank military do live together. Climate It never rains, there is no moon, there is no sun and the realm is barren. The weather in this realm is almost a constant. It does not observe any changing seasons either. The only thing that does not remain a constant is the temperature, which can range from anything between 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit Culture Angels are very obsessed with what it means to be an angels, loyality, hygiene, purity and obedience are all valued traits, the Aristocracy demands this, and the average angel knows that they should obey and follow orders, or the good of all. Purity especially is important to angels, and can be interpreted in multiple ways. Physically, it can refer to hygiene, dressing appropriately, staying away from actions that could be considered impure and the likes of. Mentally, it can refer to the way of thought one has, one should avoid impure and dirty thoughts, one shouldn't think of rebellion against the Aristocracy as it would undermine the entire society and be bad for all. However, purity of oneself is not the only important thing, purity of the individual is great, but purity of the entire population is key, therefore rebels are highly looked down upon, along with criminals and other impure individuals. These individuals are also targeted and hunted down by civilians when possible, as everyone strives for the perfect society, and catching a rebel is sure to end up in a rather hefty reward. The same does not go for outsiders however, they do not care for the outsiders impurity, and will simply consider them a lower life form if they are impure, they wont try to make them pure or anything the likes of. Dirt should remain dirt, a pet should remain a pet, a first impression for that reason is very important when one wants to talk to angels. Angels have high respect for those they consider equals, those that are pure like them, dress well and do their best to serve their own species. With those individuals, angels will gladly associate and engage in friendly behavior, offering to trade or to talk on equal level. They are open to taking in cultural values. Especially trying new food or decorations, as long as those cultural values do not go against the Aristocracy and their rules. However, Equals are still not allowed in The Aether, to angels The Aether is their sacred home, and only those who are weak, those who are pets and servants are to live there. Only rarely is an equal allowed to visit, and in those cases, it is usually for diplomatic meetings. The reasoning behind this is that the Aristocracy does not want new people that could potentially question them, and so they prefer servants that remain quiet and obedient over equals that can challenge and are not under them. Along with this, the Aether is very fond of public talks and literature. Many works and speeches have been written down to be preserved in The Aethers library. But these are not made by the common angel, most of these are written by important individuals. Some from the military such as Cassius but more importantly many Aristocrats are authors with a silver tongue, carrying the power of words and using them to gain even more faith than they already have within the population. For a detailed look at some of these writings, one can visit The Aether Library and do a bit of reading Angels also have a bit of a special relationship with darkness. Darkness is incredibly rare in the Aether itself, however angels still have the need to go outside their realm where darkness is much more common. This means that soldiers and generals have all seen the dark, and spread its existence as a rumor around the Aether. The dark to many angels is something that cannot be explained, and often it's described as a creeping horror that robs away ones vision. Some angels are known to even describe that darkness reach forward with it's sharp claws, and secure them around ones neck, strangling the victim to death. Which is a description used by angels that have experienced darkness in the Aether. If a place is dark in the Aether, that place has no air to breathe, if there is no air to breathe, then one will choke if they stand inside such darkness. Time The Aether does not know of minutes, hours, years or such ways of measuring time, due to being in their own realm with their own rules, they also have their own way of measuring time. Their way of measuring time is based around their sleep. An average angel needs approximately 15 hours of sleep to then stay awake for 15 hours. This cycle of being awake and asleep lasting 30 hours is refered to as simply a "Cycle". This is the base for how they measure time. However, one unit to measure time was not enough, and so the Aether created a list of measurements to use: An Era is 12500 Days (Or 100 ages, or 34.22 years) An Age is 125 Days (Or 100 Cycles) A Cycle is 30 hours long. (Or 10 Periods) A Period is 3 hours long (Or 10 Measures) A Measure is 18 minutes long. (Or 10 Paces) A Pace is 108 seconds (Or 100 Bits) A Bit is 1.08 seconds (Or 1/100th of a Pace) Ages are also what people of the Aether use to identify their birthday. Should you ask an Angel how old they are, they would answer in an amount of 'ages'. Old angels may however answer in both an amount of Eras and ages. This system is used because the Aether does not have night and day, no sun and no moon, and it does not have seasons either. Therefore the Aether decided to base their measurements of time around the average Angels need for sleep. Since they sleep for approximately 15 hours and Stay awake for 15 hours, angels based their measurements of time around that and cleverly named this 30 hours period "One cycle". The need for more measurements of time quickly rose though, and thus the rest was created along with names fitting them. They all are divided in neat numbers of 10 or 100 to their next measurement, making for a neat and easy to understand system. Laws While the obvious laws of murder and stealing being illegal applies, the Aether is extra strict on their rules, and a number of extra rules apply to The Aether. This serves as the Aethers ban list, and any character seen going against it is likely to be looked down by angels, or if in The Aether, arrested for their illegal activities. Caffeine: Caffeine poses a danger to all angels, not only is it addictive, but since it artificially energizes a person, it can easily mess with an Angels sleep schedule, and over a period of time become very unhealthy, if not deadly for an angel to consume. Therefore, Caffeine is strictly forbidden in The Aether. Pornography, Sexual favors, etc: Sex is viewed by angels as incredibly private and even sinful, therefore sex is only to be had for reproduction, and sex with more than one partner is also looked down upon. An Angel must not ruin their image with such dirtyness and they especially must not tempt others into such dirty acts either. For these reasons, pornography and anything like it is strictly forbidden, and so is sex between two parties that cannot reproduce. Drugs and Alcohol: To Angels, drugs and Alcohol both pose a problem as they can both taint their image. An Angel or anyone else for that matter does not exactly look regal or superior while drunk or high on drugs. It also prevents an Angel from performing their job in society, therefore drugs and Alcohol is strictly forbidden. Critique of the Aristocracy: An Angel should never doubt the Aristocracy, their rule is fair and efficient, and as proven by the Aether realms thriving population, the Aristocracy is very aware of how things should be run and how things should not be run, therefore a mere peasant should never speak against the Aristocrat. This rule does not apply to the Aristocracy itself, however an Aristocrat may want to be careful about who they want to be on the bad side of. Social Structure The Aether realm divides their people into several classes based on their wealth and status. Social mobility is low and it is extremely common for a child to grow up to be the same as their father and mother. The Aristocracy: The Aether realm is ruled by a wealthy elite with great political power. They are generally not oppressive and treat their citizens somewhat fairly. (With the exception of keeping all wealth and power to themselves) They do however not tolerate those who go against them, and are merciless in getting rid of them. This includes those angels that betray their own kind, criminals, terrorists and hostile entities invading upon their lands. Some of this wealthy elite also keep SFB’s as a sign of wealth, either as a pet or a weapon for personal defense. Or both. Despite not being part of the military, Members of the Aristocracy tend to be very capable in combat. They are both the Legislative and Judicial powers in this realm and sometimes do not mind acting as the Executive Power either. They know they have the most power in this realm and they are not afraid of expressing it. However, they are aware that staying on the general populations good side is preferable, and so through appearing kind and regal, they are seen as gods among the rest of the population. They are also very good at holding a grudge, if one gets on their bad side, they are likely going to die before leaving it. For more details on the political system, check The Aristocracy Characters from the Aristocracy: Leofiel The Military Elite: The people with second-most power in the Aether realm is high-ranked military personnel, things like generals, etc. This is where most SFB’s can be found as they are used as weapons by generals whom lead the charge whenever the realm goes to war or have to use force on unruly individuals within the population. They along with the rest of the military form the Realms Executive power. They worship the Aristocrats less than the rest of the people, and sometimes have a say in political situations, however they are still well aware that their position is below that of the god-like Aristocrats. Characters from the Military Elite: Cassius The Military Carries Executive power along with the military elite. These are any members of the Aethers army ranging from guards to well-trained soldiers. Generally only families that already have members in the military will provide more soldiers however promising individuals may be picked among the commonfolk. The Military much like the Commonfolk see the Aristocrats as gods and the Military Elite as their prophets. Most serve them with great obedience, however there are sometimes outliers as a family that is considered part of the military may give born to a child that hold a different and unwelcome opinions about the Aristocracy. Noteable characters from The Military: Buero, Leon The Commonfolk Plain old regular angels, they make up the largest group of people, but are at the same time the least influencial group when it comes to political power where they almost have none. They live under strict but somewhat fair rule, no or is outright killed by the ruling government (At least not in broad daylight.) but the general population while doing mostly alright can tend to be a bit saddened by the tight laws and low social mobility. They also tend to be lacking in magic, and are poor at applying it to combat. They are the weakest of angels and make up the realms workforce, doing things ranging from construction work to secretary work. The most lucky among the Commonfolk may be given management positions, or positions as an assistant for the more noble Aristocrats. This is considered a great honor as associating with those above you is seen as a privilege. They of course do not only praise the Aristocrats but also hold the Military Elite in high regard, as if they are prophets. Of course those put in these positions of privilege are not chosen at random, there is a clear bias towards those who are more obedient. Those less obedient might even be changed my the more obedient. The Aristocracy rewards those who can stop rebels for them heavily, and for that reason gangs have been made with the sole purpose of attempting to catch rebels. Noteable characters from The Commonfolk: Celestine Infrastructure The Aethers city. (Simply also named "Aether") is split up into many sectors where the population is divided by class. Sectors are managed by the Aristocrats and laws are strictly enforced. A general set of laws is enforced onto all sectors, however smaller laws may change from sector to sector, decided by the Aristocrat in charge of said sector. Due to there being a low need for food (As it is considered a luxury) and all resources being provided to their society from other places, most angels are freed from having to do such work, and their strength is instead used in other places. Most notably is the societies huge military, which they use to keep their 'providers' in check among other things, the rest is used for labor elsewhere. There is still a need to construct buildings, do paperwork and many other things in the society. And there is even a lucky few that get to work as secretary, maid or other fields of work that the high-ranked Aristocrats have a need for. All sectors are also equipped with a teleportation hall, should transport of something be urgent, these are used to transport things between sectors, however the most common form of transportation is flight. Roads are also provided between sectors, but these are mostly only used to transport things that are simply too heavy for angels to carry while flying. The size of a sectors teleportation hall usually changes from sector to sector, with that of the military usually having the largest due to the need for transporting troops quickly and efficiently around the Aether should they be needed elsewhere. These teleportation halls also serve as the way out of the Aether. They are relatively easy to use, and should one be able to infuse them with any sort of magical power, they will be functional. However, tuning one to land in specific places is much more difficult and inexperienced users are likely to land in unpredictable places. Technology Angels are self-sustaining entities and are good at using their own magic to fuel whatever needs they may have. The luminescent air filling their realm makes the need for any form of light source unnecessary. Their technology is not quite as far in some areas as human technology. (Such as having guns, the internet, etc.) but in certain areas, particularly those requiring magic, their abilities are quite high, leading them to a mastery of arts such as crossing dimensions, having build large teleportation halls capable of teleporting thousands of angels in some cases. They however do not have things such as TV's, radios, etc. And are reliant on paper for spreading the word. Their magical powers is again used in this, and news are created and distributed in paper form surprisingly quickly, but rarely. The preferred method of spreading the word comes from public speeches, as the Aristocracy and military elite would rather show themselves and assert their importance and dominance. These public speeches have become bi-daily events that most angels attend to when held in their sector. Most work in the Aether is also done using The Angels natural magical powers, many tools that a human would use have been substituted with magic. As an example, glass can be made by experienced Pyromancers using the heat they can create to make it from sand. And heavy duty lifting is usually done assisted by magic as well. The Aether do have trouble moving larger objects over long distances manually, but their use of teleportation halls circumvent that and allows them to move things quickly that way, however should such a hall be unavaliable or occupied for whatever reason, the angels move their things using more primitive carts along the roads of the Aether. These carts however are like the rest of the realm made to look rather modern, ensuring that the Aethers image of purity and beauty stay intact. When it comes to construction of buildings, many types of different magic have different uses, Metalomancy as an example is very useful for construction, and the above mentioned Pyromancy too has its uses. In short, a lot of the realms technological advancements can be tributed to their magical prowess and discoveries. Foreign policy The Angels have mastered the art of travelling between dimensions, therefore it is not uncommon for them to visit other dimensions than their own, and from there interact with the locals of that world. Usually, diplomacy is carried out by an Aristocrat escorted by a general and part of his army. They invade not with the purpose of conquering realms and prefer peaceful solutions. To the Aristocrats their image is important, and they will usually try to present themselves as gods from another realm to try and persuade the inhabitants of other worlds to worship them. Once worship is established, they will simply have to ask for what they want, and they are likely to be given it. Should this plan not be successful, they will still avoid war and instead seek to be equals with those from the realm. They will attempt to trade with them using the resources they have from other realms to gain rare materials among other things. Should the realm have nothing of interest, angels will simply leave it alone. If diplomacy fails, they will do the same. However, if diplomacy fails and the realm carries something vital to the angels, they are not afraid of declaring war on the natives to get what they need by force. They will also strike back against anyone daring to attack them. Once a war has started, Angels are merciless and will not let morality limit their approach. For Angels, victory is either total submission or the eradication of the opponent. Worship as described above have sometimes been created through war rather than persuasion. Trivia * The Aether was originally going to be more classical-heaven-like, but a new direction was chosen, scrapping the need to gather souls completely. * White is an extremely common color among angels, associated with life and the purity of their own realm. (Which is predominantly white due to the seemingly endless sea of clouds) * Black as a color is looked down upon since it is the opposite to white. Black is rarely used, and when it is, it is usually used to symbolize death or impurity. A common use for black among angels would be coffins. It may also be seen in some angel clothing, but never as a dominant color and it is only sparingly used to compliment the rest of ones attire. (In this case it is purely aesthetic and carries no symbolic value)Category:Locations Category:Lore